Former staff and board members attended alongside industry representatives at the Cairns Convention Centre to mark 50 years of working to promote Tropical North Queensland.
“Over the past five decades there have been many visionaries and their legacy continues with Tropical North Queensland’s tourism industry developed by family businesses whose owners were proud to live and work in this region,” said John O’Sullivan, Tourism Tropical North Queensland (TTNQ) Chair.
“They understood that marketing the destination together was the way forward and this mantra of hunting as a pack set them apart from their competitors.”
Mark Olsen, TTNQ Chief Executive Officer, spoke about the organisation’s proud history as the oldest and largest Regional Tourism Organisation in Australia and the many people who had helped to develop a world-class destination embracing its World Heritage assets.
“History is an invaluable teacher and so we pause in the 50th year of Tourism Tropical North Queensland to look back at five decades of passion, innovation and resilience that have transformed Tropical North Queensland into the $4.5 billion powerhouse of today,” he said.
Guests received a commemorative history booklet of TTNQ titled ‘Hunting as a Pack’ and a new perpetual trophy, the Robbie Bastion Award for Inbound Marketing, was launched recognising the individual, team or campaign demonstrating the hunting as a pack philosophy of putting the destination first.
Winners of the TNQ Tourism Industry Excellence Awards were:
TTNQ Life Members: John Morris & Cheryl Kelly
Outstanding Commitment to the Industry: Tony George
Outstanding Contribution by an Individual: Megan Bell
Chair’s Award for Excellence: Singapore Airlines
Young Achiever Excellence Award: James Egan, Mt Mulligan Lodge
Customer Service Excellence Award: Simon Rooke, Passions of Paradise
Sustainable Tourism Excellence: Tropic Wings Cairns Tours
Robbie Bastion Award for Inbound Marketing: Andrew Steel
Best of Queensland Experience Excellence Award: FNQ Nature Tours
https://tourism.tropicalnorthqueensland.org.au/
Main image: Rear from left: TTNQ CEO Mark Olsen, Tourism Minister Andrew Powell, Simon Rooke (Passions of Paradise), James Boettcher (FNQ Nature Tours), James Egan (Mount Mulligan Lodge), Tony George, Peter Woodward (Tropic Wings), TEQ CEO Craig Davidson.
